SMAT 2024: Shreyas Gopal impresses with stunning hattrick; dismisses Hardik, Krunal for golden ducks

Karnataka's Shreyas Gopal shone brightly in his state's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 game against Baroda at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore. He recorded his second hattrick in SMAT in stunning fashion to apply the brakes on Baroda. Notably, Gopal was recently snapped by Chennai Super Kings at his base price of INR 30 lakh at the 2025 IPL mega auction. 

All three of his dismissals were catches. Opener Shashwat Rawat, who scored 63 out of Baroda's 102 on the board at the halfway mark, was gotten rid of on the very first delivery of the 11th over. His next couple of dismissals were of the Pandya brothers. Hardik Pandya, who has been in ferocious form in the ongoing tournament, was dismissed on the very next delivery while skipper Krunal was Gopal's third victim.   

He got a fourth wicket in the form of Bhanu Pania. However, his efforts fell short and Baroda ended up getting the better of Karnataka by four wickets and seven deliveries to spare. This was Karnataka's third loss in the ongoing edition, which meant they are left with zero chances of making it through to the knockouts. 

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Earlier in the day, Karnataka won the toss and opted to bat first. R Smaran and Gopal had a laboured stint in the middle. It was largely due to Abhinav Manohar's six-hitting that Karnataka ended up with 169 on the board.

Krunal, who opened the bowling, picked up his opposite number, Mayank Agarawal, and Smaran on his way to a tidy spell of 2/19 in his quota of four overs. Hardik, who did not bowl in Baroda's previous game against Tripura, was not assigned with bowling yet again. Baroda sit at top with a tally of 20 points, and face bottom-placed Sikkim in their final Group B game.